March 18, 2007

Sentosa Island (SINGAPORE)

Soccer Champions at Sentosa Island

After becoming friends with a group of Iranian students, they invited me to join them for a soccer tournament held on Singapore's resort island, Sentosa. The entire event was being sponsored by NTU as part of "Family Day," and it featured Singaporean ministers, faculty and their families, and students. Although I am horrible at such estimates,  organizers said the turnout was over 2,000 people.

Our first match was at 9am, and we went on to win the next three - progressing out of the group stages as the top seed. It was 4v4 with one substitute, and both the heat and sand were taking their toll. I miss the days in Florida where running on the beach was second nature. I also miss the chest-high waves of Florida; Singapore's beach might as well be a salted lake.

Our team made it all the way to semi-finals without conceding a goal, and we were the obvious front-runners for the cup. However, in the semi-final game our team let in an early fluke goal that nearly cost us. I was growing angry because the other team was blatantly time wasting, but one of my teammates scored a late equalizer that put us back in contention.

I wanted to put the ball back in play to score another one, but the opposing team was in no rush and a minor tussle broke out. One of their players tried to grab the ball from me, and I flung him to the ground so we could get on with the match. It really was not a big deal, but the referees banned us both from the oncoming penalty shoot-out. Fortunately, the better team prevailed and we still went on to win.

The championship match was against a team comprised of Vietnamese players, and once more a fluke deflection gave them an early lead. Unlike before, there was less time wasting as the opposing team was more concerned with playing football than cheating their way to victory. Perhaps it was a tactical mistake because I went on to put two goals away and win the game (it should have had three, but I banged another shot off the post and across the face of the goal).

Victory to the international team comprised of Iranians, a Nigerian, and an American!

At the award ceremony I was surprised to hear that we won 200 bucks for our efforts. The money was icing on the cake because I was just out there to have fun. Somehow, winning never seems to grow old.

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